


Blue with Pettiness

by Fanatic_weirdo



Series: Lightwood-Bane Family [13]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: 5:1, Boyfriends, Brothers, Family, Hurt Chris, I love the blue warlock, I love this family, Immortal Husbands, M/M, Magic, Max is so freaking petty, Pettymax, Sister - Freeform, forever in love, poor Chris, poor rafael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 02:15:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13626432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanatic_weirdo/pseuds/Fanatic_weirdo
Summary: Max was the goofball of the family. The one for whom rules were more suggestion than something meant to be followed closely. He was a healer, kind, empathetic, and incredibly intelligent. However, everyone close to him also knew there was no one pettier when he felt slighted. Max had the temper of the Aries he was.Or the 5 times Max was petty to someone else and the 1 time someone was petty to Max





	Blue with Pettiness

**Author's Note:**

> Keep you eyes out for hints of some future Lightwood-Bane family stories. ;)

1.  
Catarina loved the little blue Warlock. Not just because he was the answer to a dream her best friend had always wanted but never believed he could have, but also because he was also the funniest, most compassionate person she thinks she’d met in her many years. They’d bonded over being born with blue skin, despite its different shade. Still she’d always love that Magnus and Alec made Max feel that his Warlock marks were beautiful and special like her mother had when she was young. 

However, the young Warlock did NOT like being corrected. When he put mermaid scales in a potion meant for breathing under water, she smiled and corrected him gently. 

“Good instincts, Blueberry, but it’s pufferfish spikes, not mermaid scales.” 

Catarina could see the change immediately in his face and stance and the 7-year-old looked so much like Magnus in that moment it almost made her laugh. Specifically, he looked like Magnus when Magnus got caught doing something he shouldn’t. She waved her hand and the mermaid scales were put back in their jar. He didn’t say anything but nodded sharply and grabbed the pufferfish spikes, throwing them into the potion and it let out a soft puff. 

“Perfect kiddo!” 

That didn’t seem to soothe him in the least. The rest of the lesson Max made silly mistakes, mistakes that Catarina knew were on purpose. He put a strand of Seelie hair in a potion meant for healing boils, knowing full well it was supposed to be unicorn hair. He acted like he didn’t know how to find demon poison in someone when that was the first thing Max had learned. 

“Max,” Catarina scolded when Max put wolfsbane in a potion to help anxiety. “I know you know that’s not right. Come on,” she tossed the potion out and waved her hand motioning for him to try again. Again, he put one wrong ingredient, this time though it released a foul smell. “Oh my Lilith, Max!” She waved her hand and the potion vanished, but the smell lingered, and she ran to throw open a window. “You did that on purpose,” she claimed. 

“Yes,” Max agreed, with a satisfied expression. “The mermaid scales would have worked. Just because it’s always been pufferfish spikes doesn’t mean we can’t try something new. How do we know it wouldn’t have worked better,” he pouted. 

“Max, thousands of years of Warlocks making potions and you think someone hasn’t tried mermaid scales,” she said with an amused tone. 

Max did not.

“So we shouldn’t try anything new because someone has probably already tried it? Good to know I’ll never need to think!” 

That, that sass. That was all Alec Lightwood. Catarina had grown to love the Shadowhunter in the years she’d watched him fight for Downworlders again and again. She watched him fight for Magnus again and again. She knew he’d fought for months for them to get married. And he’d refused to believe Magnus was dead when he was in Edom, even in that bad moment that Catarina herself thought maybe he was. 

“Kid—” Catarina began before a portal opened in her living room and Alec walked through with a smile, which instantly faded at seeing the look on both Warlocks’ faces. The portal closed behind him as he walked up and stood behind Max, his hand falling on Max’s shoulders. 

“Hey,” he said carefully. Max stood up causing Alec to pull his hand away and look at Catarina with a raised eyebrow. 

“He’s inherited your husband’s pettiness and your sass. He’s going to be a nightmare as a teenager,” Catarina said with a smirk and an eye roll before kissing Alec’s cheek, which he returned.

Alec chuckled and nodded. “Oh we’re aware,” he said. Max came back with his backpack, scowl still in place. “Hello, Max,” he said, trying to get his son to talk.

“Hi, Daddy,” he said, his sweetness returning as he smiled up at his father. Alec reached down and picked him up but he immediately cried out and tried to squirm free. “Nooo, I’m too big to be picked up.” Alec frowned as he put him back on his feet. 

“Okay, sorry,” Alec said, patting his shoulder’s affectionately even as his heart hurt that his son was growing up so fast. “Say goodbye to Auntie Cat,” Alec said, pushing him forward slightly. 

Max frowned at the blue woman. “Bye Auntie Cat, I’ll try not to think too hard.” He growled before conjuring a portal and walking through it ignoring Alec’s, “Hey!” as the portal snapped closed immediately. 

Alec shook his head, “I’m sorry, Cat.” 

Catarina smiled and waved her hand. “He’s just upset because I corrected him when he tried to do something new with a potion. No harm done. He’ll forgive me soon,” she said confidently. Alec smiled. “Also no need to talk to him or anything. He just needed to have his dramatic moment.” 

“Yeah, Mag is overly dramatic a lot too,” Alec said before flinching, “Don’t tell him I said that.” 

Catarina laughed happily. “I’m his sister. I don’t have to tell him anything,” she said as she waved her hand and created a portal for Alec. 

“Love you, Cat,” Alec said as he made to leave.

“Love you too, Shadowhunter,” she said affectionately as he walked into the portal. 

 

2.  
Max practically snarled at his brother when Rafael tried to help him lower Chris onto the couch. They’d been on a hunt and Chris had gotten hurt, a bloody gash ran from the front of his ankle then wrapping around to the back of his knee. Max cut the jeans and immediately began healing. He couldn’t stand when one of them was hurt; it literally made him want to scream. Rafe and Chris were his…everything. His relationship outside of friendship with Chris was new, but he had always loved the boy with all his heart, and seeing him groan and hiss at the wound made Max’s stomach burn with fear and anger. Anger at his stupid brother who he knew had been the one to get them put on the mission in the first place. I might’ve been Cole who went into the computer and changed the orders from Shane and Jamison to Rafe and Chris, but it had still been his idea.

“Max, I’m okay,” Chris claimed, even as his breathing was rapid and broken. 

“Yeah, you look okay,” Max replied softly before turning and glaring at Rafael as he paced anxiously. “How did this happen,” he asked his brother angrily. 

“It was—” Chris opened his mouth to try to defend Rafael but one sharp look from his boyfriend and his mouth snapped shut. 

Rafael sighed heavily, scrubbing his face. “There were only supposed to be 3. We got ambushed. There were 10.” Max inhaled sharply as Chris’s injury closed and pushed off his knees and stood in front of Rafael. 

“And of course you couldn’t call for backup, or, you know, call off the mission, because Mr. Perfect has to show off all the time, has to prove he’s the best. Damnit, Rafe,” he growled starting to get into his brother’s space. 

This was a fight the two brothers had had before. Chris recognized it and decided to step in before the two of them were at each other’s throats.

“Max, that isn’t what happened,” Chris claimed. “We didn’t get the chance to call for back up or leave. They attacked us. We were just fighting back.” He sat up before motioning over to Rafael who hesitated but walked up to his Parabatai. “And Rafe,” he raised Rafael’s tee shirt only to reveal a nasty bruise on one side and dozens of smaller bruises and cuts all over his torso, “is the reason I am alive with only a bad cut, so how about you calm down and heal him too,” Chris said with a tone of scolding. Max deflated and his face contorted with worry for his brother as he started healing him as well. 

“Brat,” Rafael grumbled as the bruise vanished. 

“Idiot,” Max snapped back and Rafael smirked, ruffling Max’s hair affectionately. Max cried out indignantly and smacked Rafael in his very freshly healed side. 

“Oh fuck, you’re an asshole,” Rafael groaned as he held his side. Max smirked, proud of himself, before sitting back down next to Chris and putting his arms around him pulling his boyfriend so Chris’s head lay on his shoulder.

“If you have anything extra, my neck is a little sore too,” Chris said softly to Max.

“Of course. It was just a flesh wound. What kind of Warlock do you take me for,” Max said, feigning offense but running his hand over Chris’s neck. 

“And I have a headache, Maxie, if you’ll get that too,” Rafael said as he sat on the other side of Max. 

Max turned to his brother looking him up and down. “That must suck for you, huh?” 

Chris laughed at his boyfriend’s pettiness, kissing his cheek affectionately. 

“Awwww Max, come on,” Rafael groaned. 

“You know Iratzes and Tylenol exist too right? I am not a magic machine. If you want my services, you can pay for them,” he claimed before raising his eyebrow and turning back to Chris who was grinning widely.

“You are the worst brother ever,” Rafael grumbled and he activated his Iratze, propping his feet on the coffee table. 

Max hummed and shrugged, “Stop getting my boyfriend hurt.” 

 

3.  
There were times Izzy actually wanted to strangle her nephew. 

“Stop using magic for everything, Max!” she scolded when Max snapped his finger and a fresh bandage appeared on a half healed injury. 

“I could literally heal her right now,” Max said in annoyance. “I get it. This kind of medicine is important, but we are leaving her in pain that she doesn’t need because you don’t want me to heal her.” Max knew he shouldn’t heal every little paper cut, but it was annoying when all he wanted to do was help. He just wanted to make people feel better, and Izzy was stopping him at every turn. 

“So what happens when there is a battle, and you use your powers to heal all these little cuts, and then Alec or Chris or Rafael come in with a spear in their stomach, and you are too tired from the other healings to help them?!” Izzy could tell she crossed a line when Max stood at his full height in front of her, his shoulders squared and his jaw clenched. 

“I would kill myself healing them,” he stated before turning back to the injured Shadowhunter. “Here, this will speed up the process,” he waved his hand and a healing lotion appeared in his hand with a kind smile. 

“Thank you, Max,” she said softly. 

Max nodded and turned pushing past Izzy to go to the other patient who had pissed off a Warlock and got himself cursed with a rash on his penis. 

“Angel, what did you say to him Aaron,” he asked as he lifted up the sheets to see. 

Aaron huffed, “Just that I knew a Warlock who was smaller than his left arm but with bigger balls than his.” 

Max let out a laugh and shook his head. “I certainly hope you were talking about me,” Max joked. 

“Well, duh,” Aaron smirked before groaning as pain reminded him what had happened. 

“To be perfectly honest, you should be grateful he just did it down there. He could have covered your whole body,” Max said as he inspected it closely. “Izzy, may I have your all-knowing permission to heal him, or shall I just get an anti-histamine ointment instead?” Max snipped. Izzy glared at him but nodded. 

As the day went on she noticed he was very specifically doing things as slowly as possible and refusing to use magic at all. It took him 30 minutes to dress a small kitchen burn, though the burned person was finding Izzy’s very obvious frustration, hilarious. Then he wasted an entire roll of casting because he insisted on casting an 8-year old’s trainee’s leg, which was broken after she had tried to do a flip off the stairs and ended up with a broken tibia. That wasn’t what Izzy had the problem with; it was when she went to file the x-rays and returned to the 8-year-old jumping up and down, leg perfectly fine and a hardened leg cast nearby. 

“A miracle,” Max had claimed with a shrug as the girl ran off back to training with a “Thank you, Max!” yelled back at him. 

“Hey, can you get me a sprig of Valerian Root,” Izzy requested as she stocked inventory.

“Sure. Where do you get it from,” he asked. 

Izzy sighed; the teenager was more argumentative and incorrigible than both of his fathers combined. She turned to him, her hands on her hips.

“I’m serious,” he said. “Don’t want to use magic for everything.” 

It took a lot for Izzy not to want to wipe that smug smirk off his face. 

“Fine!” she snapped. “Then go to our place in China Town. I need 3.” Max nodded and started towards the door. “Wait, where are you going?”

“China Town. I was going to take the train,” Max said with a raised eyebrow. 

“For the Angel’s sake, Max, enough of this! You are 15-years-old,” she scolded. 

“I know. That’s why I’m taking the train. I’ll be perfectly safe by myself,” he said as he strolled out of the infirmary.

 

4.  
Magnus walked into the institute to see Cole glaring at his son in a way that he wasn’t sure he approved of. Max, however, was just going about his business as if Cole wasn’t even there, talking to Justine who was laughing at whatever Max was saying. So, clearly, Cole wasn’t being hurtful. 

“Cole,” Magnus greeted him. 

“Oh thank the Angel!” Cole’s face relaxed when he saw Magnus. “Is there any way you could open a portal for me? I’m late for—”

“Cole!” Max bit. “Pops, do not open a portal for him. Raziel gave him legs and a speed rune and he can use them,” Max said with a tone that told Magnus whatever Cole had done to make Max mad at him probably wasn’t that serious. Magnus knew his son could be the most quick-tempered, vindictive person when he felt he’d been disrespected. He never was toward Alec and Magnus, but that was probably because he knew both older men had far more experience and practice in the art of revenge.

“Max seriously?!” Cole whined, “I said I was sorry! It was an accident!” the man claimed. Max just cocked an eyebrow and turned back to Justine who was grinning at what was happened.

“Why can’t you just draw a rune portal?” Magnus asked, knowing that was how a lot of them got around if there was no Warlock.

“Because your demon of a son,” he said that loudly and in Max’s direction, “is closing them as soon as I open them.” Max smirked in accomplishment at shutting Cole down. 

“And it wouldn’t just be quicker to run?” Magnus asked, amused by Cole’s frustration as he sagged his entire body in annoyance and exhaustion.

“It’s a meeting at the London Institute in 8 minutes, Max!” he said the time in Max’s direction. 

“Then maybe next time you will remember better, won’t you,” Max said as if speaking to a child and not a 30-year-old adult. Said adult stomped his foot and cussed under his breath. 

“Max, open a portal. It’ll look bad on Dad if one of his Shadowhunters doesn’t show up for a meeting,” Magnus said truthfully, but he also knew playing the Alec card was a sure fire way to get his son to cooperate. Max knew Alec was one of the most respected heads in the world, and he didn’t want that to change just because Cole was an asshole. 

“Fine,” Max grumbled and waved his hand and a portal appeared. 

“Thank you!” Cole said in excitement and relief to Max. “And thank you,” he said again looking at Magnus.

“I will never portal you for fun anywhere ever again, Cole Sedgewick!” Max claimed. 

Cole sighed heavily. Magnus waved his hand in Max’s direction, “Don’t worry about him. He’s an Aries. He’ll be over it by tomorrow,” Magnus whispered. Cole chuckled nodding at Magnus before jumping into the portal. Max frowned and huffed before walking off. Magnus laughed and rolled his eyes. “What did Cole do,” Magnus asked Justine who grinned.

“When he asked Max to open a portal for him, he didn’t say please.” 

 

5.  
They were 203, 204, and 205, respectively, so they were all definitely way too old for this. 

“Max, I just said I agreed with Rafael,” Chris said, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

Alec, who was sitting at Magnus’s potion station in the corner, chuckled. It was Sunday, so his whole family was there for dinner. Magnus had gone with Rafael’s daughter, Rosie, to get a present for Rafael’s birthday, which was coming up in a couple weeks. 

“Yeah, and not with me,” Max growled at his husband of 183 years. Chris rolled his eyes, which only got him hit with a small shock of magic from Max. 

“Ow!” Chris yelped. “I am allowed to disagree with you, Max!” he claimed with a frown of his own as he rubbed the spot on his arm that Max had hit. 

“Of course you are! But not about this!” 

Alec rolled his eyes. It was so silly that they were fighting over something so trivial. Or rather, it was silly that Max was upset over something so trivial. But it’d been that way his entire life, and Alec didn’t except it to change now. Rafael was standing away from the couple, glad to not be the one experiencing Max’s wrath. 

“By the Angel,” Chris murmured and was once again shocked. “What the hell,” he yelped again as Max frowned with his arms cross. He looked like he was 4 years old again and Alec couldn’t help but laugh. “Well you can shock me all you want! I’m still on Rafael’s side with this one,” Chris said but this time dodged the shock with a triumphant ‘HA’. Only to be hit on the nose. “Oh fucking shit!” Chris cried as he grabbed his nose in pain and at this point Rafael was actually laughing. It was nice to hear. Rafael hadn’t laughed as much since the divorce, going back to his sullen ways. “You are my Parabatai!” Chris claimed, “Defend me!” 

Rafael raised his hands in surrender and shook his head, “You know I’ll fight any demon that comes along for you, but when it comes to my little brother, you’re fighting that particular demon on your own,” he said with a laugh. Chris gave him a look of offense and annoyance, but Max beamed up at him.

“Awww, you’ve learned,” he teased Rafael who laughed. 

“I mean you defeated a Prince of Hell. I don’t think anyone should go against you,” Rafael claimed. 

Max grinned happily before looking at his husband with a raised eyebrow. 

“I am not agreeing with you because of that! I fought next to you that day!” Chris claimed before reaching out without thinking and getting shocked yet again. “Max!” He growled, while Alec, Rafael and Max chuckled. “This is so stupid! We are allowed to have differing opinions,” Chris stated.

“I don’t think that it’s that you disagreed with him. I think it’s that you sided with me, because I’m right,” Rafael snickered. 

Max whipped his head to Rafael. “Watch it, or you’re next,” he threatened. Rafael just smirked and shook his head. 

“You always get like this!” Chris said, exasperated. “So over dramatic.” 

Max froze, and Alec immediately stood and ran out on the balcony. He’d called his Warlock husband ‘over dramatic’ exactly once and had learned his lesson. And Magnus didn’t have half the temper Max did. He wasn’t going to be there to witness what happened to Chris next. 

He could hear muffled yelps and arguments, but when Magnus opened the door to the balcony to join him 15 minutes later, Alec heard Chris scream. Magnus laughed as he wrapped his arms around Alec.

“Why are you out here,” he asked, kissing him deeply. 

“Mmm,” Alec hummed, “Chris called Max over dramatic. I decided I’d seen a Warlock’s reaction to being called that once and I didn’t need a second.” 

Magnus smirked and kissed him lightly again, “You’re a smart man, Alexander. Quite a fight going on in there because of it.” 

Alec laughed and explained, “Oh no, the fight isn’t because Chris called him over dramatic.” Magnus tilted his head in curiosity. “They’re fighting because Rafael said Cherry Garcia was the best ice cream and Max said it was Salted Caramel. Chris agreed with Rafe,” Alec explained and both men burst out laughing. 

“Well they’re all wrong,” Magnus said laughing. 

“Obviously the best is ‘Everything But The…,’” Alec responded with a knowing grin. 

“That’s right,” Magnus said with another kiss before pulling back. “Wait do you just say it’s the best because I say it is?” 

Alec laughed, “I’m a smart man, Magnus.” 

 

1

Max could not believe his little sister. She was 16 and was actually standing in front of him, hands on her hips, stomping her feet as if she were 4. There may be a 243 year difference between them, but Max still felt she was being ridiculous.

“Ariel, you cannot go on this hunt. It’s dangerous, and I want you to help me in the infirmary,” Max tried. 

Ariel huffed while Rosie had to hide her face in Rafael’s shoulders to keep from laughing. Rafael himself had his hand over his mouth in an attempt to not show how amused he was.

“Rosie gets to go! Why can she go and I can’t?!” Ariel asked, magic sparking in her hand. 

“Rosie is 200 years older than you! Plus, Dad said I am training you today, and after what you pulled last week, that’s for the best!” 

Ariel had done several things last week to warrant punishment, including but not limited to… Wrecking Rafael’s jeep (It was just a fender bender); setting the curtains in the living room on fire (that one she felt bad for); breaking the x-ray machine (it wasn’t her fault she had electricity in her blood); and she broke four bottles of Max’s most rare potions (She was just looking!)

But it still wasn’t fair!

“He and Pops are on a date in Thailand, and what Dad doesn’t know, won’t hurt him,” Ariel said, batting her eyes hopefully at her brother. “He never has to know…” 

At this point Rafael was not even attempting to hide his laughter, seeing his brother get a taste of his own medicine was incredibly satisfying.

“You aren’t going and that is final!” Max said before turning his back on her. 

Ariel’s lips drew together, and she turned to Rafael who shook his head with a shrug, telling her he wouldn’t go against Alec either. She huffed angrily before sitting on a stool and watching her brother and niece leave without her. Fine, if Max wanted to train her, she wouldn’t leave his side.

An hour later Ariel was healing a small injury from training, sending the young Shadowhunter off with a smile. She turned to see Max standing over a water basin and she couldn’t help but smirk. He didn’t want to let her hunt, fine. Since one of her Warlock marks were aquatic scales one of her unique abilities was her control of water. Sure, any Warlock could learn to, but, for her, it was as natural as breathing. She walked up beside him, getting unnaturally close.

“Whatcha doing,” she asked. Max jumped in surprise at her voice and her proximity. 

“By the Angel,” he muttered and took a step back. “I’m trying to make holy water,” 

“Is it ready yet,” she asked, because she knew if she splashed holy water in her brothers face it would actually hurt him, and she didn’t want that. She just wanted to annoy him. 

“No, still gotta—” 

She made a flicking motion with her finger and Max’s face was hit with the water that jumped out of the basin. He gasped in surprised and turned to his sister who was looking fascinated at the rolls of gauze nearby. 

“Shark bait,” he grumbled under her breath.

“What was that,” she asked innocently. 

“Nothing,” he said sweetly, even as they both rolled their eyes. 

She continued to stay next to him as he finished the holy water, though he did everything with one eye on his sister’s hands after that. When he was finished he very carefully began pouring it into vials, wearing waterproof gloves. 

“Can I help?” She asked in an annoyingly enthusiastic voice. It caused Max to jump and spill some of the water on his glove. 

“Not right this second,” Max said with a heavily exhale. 

“Okay, I’ll just watch,” she said as she got eye level with him, as he stayed level with the top of the vials. He paused his work at her being so close to him and blinked at her slowly. She looked at him with a shit-eating grin and Max wanted to dump the water on her. But that would be cruel, and he was the grown up in this situation. So he just went back to filling vials, ignoring her as much as he could. 

It went on like this for two hours; anywhere Max moved, he had a shadow. Luckily it didn’t interfere with his work. It was just extremely annoying. Then, FINALLY, Alec and Magnus walked in, hand and hand, smiling like newlyweds instead of a couple who had been together more than to 250 years. 

“Dad!” Ariel cried when she saw Alec, “Why did you tell Max I couldn’t go hunting and had to stay here with him?!”

Alec looked at her confused, “I never said that.” 

Ariel’s face grew still when she felt a presence behind her. 

“Don’t mess with my potions, seaweed breath.” 

Sure Max was 259, but she was still his little sister, and he was still the master of petty. And 259 years had taught him patience.


End file.
